At Milford coastal center, bracelets for baby birds are part of broad conservation efforts

Coastal center tracking declining bird species

Published
2:33 pm EDT, Wednesday, July 13, 2016

MILFORD >> Scientists interrupted the youngest residents of the purple martin “hotels” at the Coastal Center at Milford Point Wednesday morning as part of ongoing conservation efforts to track the declining species.

Purple martins, swallows that thrive near water, have been disappearing from the Northeast, said Milan Bull, director of science and conservation for the Connecticut Audubon Society. This could caused by a number of factors, ranging from a change of wind patterns taking away their food supply to climate change. There is no set theory, Bull said.

Attaching bands to each leg with identifying information will help the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service understand changing migration patterns of these birds.

“It’s like their own Social Security number,” Bull said. “When or if they are recaptured or found dead, we will know where they came from.”

Bull was joined by state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection wildlife biologists and volunteers Wednesday to take the baby purple martins out of their nesting gourds and mark them. They also measured the weight and length of each purple martin for data collection.

As each gourd was lowered, the birds were placed in buckets marked with the information of which gourd the babies came from, so they could be returned to the right one. Using pliers, the wildlife biologists attached one band to each leg — one with a federal identification number and the other a yellow band, used to note that the bird was born in Milford.

The baby birds, some just 9 days old, were relatively quiet during the procedures, though some did voice their discomfort at having been taken from their nests for the first time, and not on their own.

The gourds the baby birds call home are full of nests in various levels. These “hotels” are much different from a typical birdhouse, Bull said, and they require regular attention and husbandry.

Finding adequate places for these types of purple martin colony homes and maintaining their health and cleanliness is especially important because Eastern purple martins depend on them. On the East Coast, purple martins no longer nest in the wild and are dependent on artificial housing structures.

Coastal Center Director Cathy Hagadorn said getting the gourds ready every spring is like setting up a vacation home.

Purple martins are migratory and they return to the artificial structures yearly to nest. But once the weather cools and bugs start to leave, the birds migrate south.

“We’re kind of like landlords and stewards,” Hagadorn said. “We just keep hoping they come back.”

The fact that the birds have adapted to nesting only in artificial structures also may be contributing to the species’ decline, Bull said, and it makes the upkeep of these structures even more important.

A suite of aerial insectivores, or animals that exclusively eat insects as they fly through the air, are declining in the eastern United States, Bull said. This list includes bats and barn swallows.

Hagadorn said those interested in helping with the conservation of purple martins can visit the Audubon Society website, www.ctaudubon.org, for more information and a live camera feed to the gourds at Milford.

Bracelets for Baby Birds

Media: New Haven Register

Purple martin nesting gourds at the Milford Point Coastal Center in Milford.

Purple martin nesting gourds at the Milford Point Coastal Center in Milford.

Photo: Peter Hvizdak — New Haven Register

Photo: Peter Hvizdak — New Haven Register

Image
1of/12

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 12

Purple martin nesting gourds at the Milford Point Coastal Center in Milford.

Purple martin nesting gourds at the Milford Point Coastal Center in Milford.

Photo: Peter Hvizdak — New Haven Register

At Milford coastal center, bracelets for baby birds are part of broad conservation efforts